Lakers Highlights: LA Blows Opportunity To Close Out Kings In Overtime Thriller
Your Los Angeles Lakers fell to a disappointing 1-2 start to their 2023-24 campaign in a hard-fought overtime epic against a third third straight Western Conference playoff contender. This time, it was the Sacramento Kings, hot off a 48-32 season and their first postseason berth in 17 years. It also happened to transpire on the 20th anniversary of LA superstar LeBron James' first-ever NBA game, also in Sacramento when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Yes, he's very old.
So old that the youngest player on the Lakers' active roster, Jalen Hood-Schifino, was born just seven days before James was drafted in 2003.
Jerry West Clutch Player of the Year De'Aaron Fox and his fellow 2023 Kings All-Star, Domantas Sabonis, were flanked by a variety of sharpshooting role players from all over their impressively deep roster. Sacramento seemed to be more or less in control for much of the night, though LA more or less managed to stay within striking distance the entire time.
In the first quarter, Sacramento galloped off to a big 41-28 advantage, thanks to seven made triples and a surprisingly bad stint by LA at the charity stripe (the team went 6-of-12).
Scab Javale McGee even got in on the opening quarter fun:
The Lakers have trailed by 10 or more points in for the first quarter of all three of their games thus far this season. If this trend continues, one wonders how it could impact Ham's thinking with regards to his starting five. Reaves has been bad to start the year, Prince has been erratic (he had zero points against the Suns), and Russell's defense is general suspicious. One wonders if Gabe Vincent or Rui Hachimura will get a call-up, one way or another.
In the second quarter, the Kings generally led while LA kept pace, with offense stemming from one expected place, Anthony Davis, and a wild card -- just like the second quarter.
Anthony Davis was the star of the show for Los Angeles, notching 15 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals in the first half. He really was a pretty consistent two-way force throughout the night for the second straight game, an improvement over that Denver opener:
New reserve power forward/center Christian Wood also got off to a hot start, notching 11 points in the second quarter alone.
The Kings, who are fast and happy to shoot from deep, closed on a quick 7-0 tear.
De'Aaron Fox led all scorers in the opening half with 21 points, 12 of which were in the paint, as he proved a tough cover for Los Angeles' fleet of guards in the opening two periods.
James had a pretty patchy opening half as a scorer. scoring seven points on 2-of-5 shooting from the floor and a terrible 2-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe, plus three assists (against three turnovers), two rebounds, and a -14 plus-minus, tied for the worst such stat on the team with Austin Reaves. We'll get to LA's starting shooting guard in further detail later.
At least the opening half wasn't all bad news for King James, as he still submitted this highlight reel-worthy dish to Wood:
Four Kings fouls in the third quarter's first two minutes helped propel a quick 6-2 LA run to cut Sacramento's lead to single digits.
Davis made a triple to help keep LA within seven midway through the frame. Including the preseason, Davis has nailed a trey in eight straight games now.
De'Aaron Fox was ultimately penalized for his fourth personal foul, following a Lakers coach's challenge while Taurean Prince elevated for a triple. He was forced to Sacramento's bench, and Prince instantly went on a 6-0 run (with LA in the midst of an 11-0 run overall) midway through the frame.
Los Angeles marginally outscored Sacramento 28-21, closing the third period trailing just two possessions, 87-83.
Rui Hachimura finally received his first fourth quarter action this year, and immediately made a massive impact for LA, going 3-for-4 from the floor in the period's first three minutes (and change) to help power the club to its first lead of the game (!) early in the frame.
De'Aaron Fox at one point rolled his ankle while fighting to keep possession, and even had to depart for the Kings' locker room. He later returned, and though his explosiveness did seem a bit limited, he was able to lean on his wing cohorts to pick up the shooting slack.
Sabonis, meanwhile, fouled out with 2:58 remaining in regulation.
The Lakers weirdly went away from Davis for several consecutive possessions, and botched field goal tries on seven straight attempts late in the frame. LA opted to employ a closing lineup of Russell/Vincent/Prince/James/AD. Ham opted to sit Reaves or much of the fourth quarter and all of the overtime period after yet another inefficient shooting night. Vincent instead took his spot to close the game. The Kings, remember, were without Sabonis, while Mike Brown opted to sit De'Aaron Fox for much of the period.
A Keegan Murray triple with 1:36 left elevated the game to a seemingly-insurmountable seven-point edge, 113-106 -- but a D-Lo response the next time down the floor kept the game within four. LA lucked out with a wasted Kevin Huerter possession. Russell tapped the ball away, sprinted down the floor and drew a foul on a layup try. He nailed both his subsequent looks at the charity stripe. The Kings then added Malik Monk into the lineup for a super-small lineup with Murray at center during the final minute of regulation.
With Gabe Vincent draped all over him, Fox forced up a tough take and missed wide.
A ferocious AD putback cleaned up a missed Taurean Prince attempt on a drive, knotting up the game at 113-113.
The refs, who had been a bit arbitrary all game, whistled Vincent for a foul on Fox, who knocked down his two free throws with annoying confidence and put the Kings up two, 115-113, with 25.7 seconds remaining.
An exhausted James forced his way inside by taking Keegan Murray into the post and scooping in a baseline hook shot to tie the contest once again with 12.9 remaining.
After the Lakers' defense forced the Kings into an uncomfortable option on the subsequent possession, the ball found its way to Keegan Murray, whose triple try clanged against the front of the rim, far short, and sent the matchup to overtime.
That overtime period was fairly even -- until two huge Kings treys created some fatal separation.
Playing Vincent in concert with Russell proved a bit risky down the stretch, however, as it left to a size deficit in the frontcourt, which helped Sacramento nab some boards and get second-chance opportunities it otherwise may not have achieved.
Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter caught on fire at the end of the game, nailing critical triples off two Keegan Murray passes via offensive rebounds.
Here's Monk's:
And Huerter's essentially sealed the game.
James ate up a bit too much clock, but eventually cut inside for a lay-up.
On the other end, Los Angeles was forced to foul Malik Monk, who had been red-hot in the OT. The ex-Laker would finish with 11 points in the period, including these back-to-back buckets.
He nailed the free throws to put Sacramento up 132-127. A James turnover was the final nail in the coffin. James, by the way, logged 39:05 of game time, i.e. 9:05 more than the cap Darvin Ham established after LA's 117-109 opening night loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.
LA went 1-of-4 from deep during the bonus period, while Sacramento shot 3-for-7. That -- and LA's inability to get many stops defensively, despite the Kings being without Sabonis the whole time and Fox much of it -- proved to be the difference.
The Kings had 20 second-chance points in the contest. Sacramento also enjoyed huge advantages in paint scoring (56-44) and bench points (46-28).
Davis paced LA with 30 points on 11-of-22 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe, 16 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals. James finished with 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting (including a respectable 3-of-8 from deep, his first good long-range performance of the season), 15 rebounds, eight assists (against eight turnovers, not ideal). Prince had 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the floor (including an encouragingly prolific 5-of-13 from long range)
Russell scored 17 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the floor (1-of-5 from deep), while Hachimura and Wood were LA's double-digit scorers, with 11 points apiece.
Vincent and Reaves looked particularly rough on offense, though Vincent gave Fox fits when matched up with him on the other end. Vincent scored just two points, but he only even shot the rock three times in 31:34, so perhaps the issue was more a function of his usage than anything else. Reaves, however, was just plain bad. He scored five points on 1-of-12 shooting (including 1-of-8 from deep) and had more turnovers (three) than assists (two).
Sacramento certainly looked like the deeper, more talented club on this night, though again LA definitely hung around. Fox finished with a game-high 37 points on 14-of-24 shooting (3-of-8 from deep) from the field and 6-of-8 shooting from the free throw line, along with eight assists, four rebounds, a steal and a block. Sabonis had a 12-point, 15-rebound double-double before fouling out in the fourth. Monk finished with 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the floor (4-of-9 from long range). Three other Kings scored in double figures.
To make matters worse, this happened on the first night of a back-to-back pair of games. Los Angeles returns home tomorrow to host the young and hungry 2-0 Orlando Magic, who will be significantly better-rested, having not played since a 102-97 win over the tanking Portland Trail Blazers Friday.
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